discovery

In another entirely unexpected turn to 2020, scientists have discovered that... sometimes, octopus punch fish for no reason. Yes, The Sunday Times reports that "[o]ctopuses are ocean thugs that punch fish," and we are both incredibly surprised and also can't stop laughing, and when you see the video evidence of this, you won't be able to stop laughing either. 

Twitter, of course, lost their minds over this strange piece of news, with multiple tweets about it going viral and people having the time of their lives creating memes and sarcastically joking about how octopuses are keeping law and order in the ocean. 

They might be right though, who knows what's going on in this strange ocean world? Apparently, one of the things going on are octopuses finding fish. The more you know. 

Somehow, Australia managed to get yet another adorable creature. Actually, 2 of them!

Up until last week, it was assumed that there was only one species of the great glider - a possum-sized marsupial. But, as the
Sydney Morning Herald reports, "there are actually three species of greater glider, not one," explaining that the marsupials are "squeezing into tree hollows during the day and at night soaring up to 100 metres through the air on the hunt for its favourite eucalyptus leaves." And yes, Australia did indeed just get cuter. 

Cats were as important 2,000 years ago as they are today! Important enough to be etched into the desert among the Nazca lines in Peru. 

In the dun sands of Southern Peru, lays the Nazca lines, hundreds of geometric and zoomorphic images. Figured etched centuries ago with geoglyphs of an orca, what some believe to be an astronaut, a monkey, and a hummingbird. These figures are said to be dated between 200BC and 100BC. And just recently, a new figure has been discovered - the feline. 

An enormous cat Nazca line emerged while officials worked to improve access to one of the hills that would provide a wonderful and natural vantage point, in which a handful of the designs could be seen. 

Peru's culture ministry said in a statement, "The figure was scarcely visible and was about to disappear because it's situated on quite a steep slope that's prone to the effects of natural erosion. Over the past week, the geoglyph was cleaned and conserved, and shows a feline figure in profile, with its head facing the front." 

The new feline discovery is said to be 37meters long.

Johny Isla, Peru's chief archaeologist for the lines, told the Spanish news agency Efe, "It's quite striking that we're still finding new figures, but we also know that there are more to be found."

Isla continues, "Over the past few years, the use of drones has allowed us to take images of hillsides."

Story via The Guardian

It's scientifically called a "siphonophore Apolemia" but everyone is calling it the world's longest "long stringy stingy thingy."

Which, honestly, is way more catchy. 

International ocean researchers may have just discovered the longest living... thing... in the known world. Captured in a haunting video and explained upon in a Twitter thread by biologist Rebecca Helm, who specializes in studying jellyfish at the University of North Carolina Asheville.

Helm calls the footage gave her "chills." Find out why below. 

There have been 71 new (animal and plant) species discovered in 2019 alone! This list includes flowers, coral, ants, lizards, spiders, sea slugs and fish. 

Found across 5 continents from within the depths of caves, forests, and the ocean. 

We have selected 14 insects and sea life creatures. 

Story via California Academy of Sciences

Currently, Scientists at the Centre for Paleogenetics, in Stockholm, Sweden, are currently doing DNA-analysis to find out whether it is a wolf, a dog, or possibly a common ancestor.

But one thing they do know for sure is that it was a very good boy. 

Bats are widely misunderstood creatures in the animal kingdom - while they're associated with witches, vampires and darkness in general, they're actually super cute and interesting. And scientists have just discovered something amazing about them - bats use leaves as "mirrors" that reflect sound waves, helping them find insects hiding behind leaves. Cool, right? Or confusing? Keep on reading, we'll explain everything.